“When they were under the Dome, the Pope insisted: ‘not only must we
praise and glorify him, but we must adore him,’” Vatican spokesman Fr.
Federico Lombardi S.J. told journalists Nov. 29. “Therefore it is
reasonable to qualify this moment of silence a moment of silent
adoration.”

Pope Benedict XVI prays in Blue Mosque

“(It was) a beautiful moment of interreligious dialogue, and it the
exact same thing happened in 2006 with Pope Benedict, it was exactly the
same.”

Fr. Lombardi offered his statement to the head of the Holy See Press
Office association of journalists by telephone. The message was then
relayed to the journalists present in the press center in Istanbul.

Pope Benedict XVI in Blue Mosque

Pope Francis’ visit to the historic Sultan Ahmet Mosque, known as the
“Blue Mosque” due to the blue tiles covering the inside, marks the third
time a Pope has ever gone inside, the first being St. John Paul II in
1979.

In his statement, Fr. Lombardi said that upon his arrival, the Roman
Pontiff was greeted in the Mosque’s garden by a group of 50-60 people
coming from different Christian communities – including Latin, Coptic,
Syro and Armenian – as well as their bishops.

President of the Turkish Episcopal Conference Bishop Smirme
Franceschini offered a welcoming address before the Pope went inside.

Pope Francis visits the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, Saturday in Istanbul. (CNS/Paul Haring)

The Bishop of Rome was accompanied into the mosque by Ankara’s Grand
Mufti Mehmet Görmez and two imam. After entering, the Grand Mufti
explained to the Pope some versus from the Quran in which Niqab spoke of
Zachariah, the birth of John the Baptist, of Elizabeth and Mary.

Once the Grand Mufti finished speaking, he and the Pope “took a moment
of silence, a silent adoration (and) the Pope said twice to the Muftì:
we must adore God,” Fr. Lombardi said.

It was a true moment of interreligious dialogue, he observed, noting
that afterward the Grand Mufti cited more versus of the Quran which
refer to God as a God of love and justice.

Fr. Lombardi recalled how the Mufti said to Pope Francis that “’on that
we are agreed.’ And the Pope said: ‘Yes, on that we are agreed.’ It was
also a beautiful moment of dialogue.”

After leaving the Mosque the Roman Pontiff went to visit the nearby
Hagia Sofia, which is a former Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica that
was later turned into an imperial mosque, and is now a museum.

While inside Pope Francis signed the museum’s Golden Book, writing in
Greek “St. Sofia, Holy Wisdom of God,” and cited a passage in Latin from
psalm 84 that says “How lovely is thy dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!”

The spokesman said that the Pope is now eating lunch, and will later
preside over mass in Istanbul’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

In response to questions surrounding the Pope’s final appointment
tomorrow afternoon, in which he will visit with students from Salesian
school for refugees in the apostolic nunciature, Fr. Lombardi said that
there are no new details and told journalists not to expect “a surprise
visit to a refugee camp.”